I headed out to Three Arch with Jake Wright today. We were delighted to see that the water looked pretty blue, but disappointed that the temp had dropped from the recent 63-64 to a more challenging 59.
I headed out toward the up current point of the bed while Jake headed back into the thicket. One more wonderful decision by me. I didn't see a thing, while Jake saw three.
He said that he came down on top of the first one and didn't want to take the shot at the narrow back, but when he tried to maneuver for some side view, it spooked. He said that the next one had to be 60 to 70, but he missed. He had just two bands on his Wong 55" magnum, and thinks he just didn't have quite enough range. The third fish was a charm, and it immediately took all 200 feet of reel line, his gun, and then he was following the 50' cheater float line attached to the butt. When he caught up with it and dove to retrieve the fish, he saw the tip low in the front of the belly looking like it would pull out, so he brained the fish, cut the tip out of the fish, and took it up. The problem is that in descending the last couple of feet to the fish, he ruptured his right eardrum.
He couldn't dive again, so he had to leave everything tied up and swim the fish back to the boat. I had not been aware that he had shot a fish until I saw him holding it on the swim step. He shouted that he needed help recovering his gun and gear, so I met him at the spot. The yellow Q-Power reel line was strung out all through the bed, but at least its easy to follow, and we finally got it straight up and down. I dove and saw it disappear into a thick column of kelp, and continued to the bottom under the kelp, but couldn't find the shaft. It was somewhere in that mess, and not so easy to find without a big shiny fish on it. Finally I found the shaft and cut the shooting line to bring it up. The reel line and shooting line were still tangled so hopelessly that I finally followed the reel line into it as far as possible and then cut it off. I figure he only lost a few feet and a snap swivel, and what could he expect out of old decrepit help anyway?
I went back with him to rest, eat, weigh, and photograph the fish. It weighed 47 pounds, which is his smallest. His previous two were 52 and 51. Doesn't that piss you off too?
I went back in for a while, but the vis had deteriorated quite a bit, and of course I wasn't going to get any help if I shot one, so I was uncomfortable. When I went back to the boat for a break, Jake said his head was really hurting, so we headed in early.
Just as I sat down to write this, Jake called and said that the ENT said that was the biggest hole in an eardrum he had ever seen. He prescribed some antibiotics and told Jake to stay of the water for a while.
Oh well- at least he got the fish.
I headed out toward the up current point of the bed while Jake headed back into the thicket. One more wonderful decision by me. I didn't see a thing, while Jake saw three.
He said that he came down on top of the first one and didn't want to take the shot at the narrow back, but when he tried to maneuver for some side view, it spooked. He said that the next one had to be 60 to 70, but he missed. He had just two bands on his Wong 55" magnum, and thinks he just didn't have quite enough range. The third fish was a charm, and it immediately took all 200 feet of reel line, his gun, and then he was following the 50' cheater float line attached to the butt. When he caught up with it and dove to retrieve the fish, he saw the tip low in the front of the belly looking like it would pull out, so he brained the fish, cut the tip out of the fish, and took it up. The problem is that in descending the last couple of feet to the fish, he ruptured his right eardrum.
He couldn't dive again, so he had to leave everything tied up and swim the fish back to the boat. I had not been aware that he had shot a fish until I saw him holding it on the swim step. He shouted that he needed help recovering his gun and gear, so I met him at the spot. The yellow Q-Power reel line was strung out all through the bed, but at least its easy to follow, and we finally got it straight up and down. I dove and saw it disappear into a thick column of kelp, and continued to the bottom under the kelp, but couldn't find the shaft. It was somewhere in that mess, and not so easy to find without a big shiny fish on it. Finally I found the shaft and cut the shooting line to bring it up. The reel line and shooting line were still tangled so hopelessly that I finally followed the reel line into it as far as possible and then cut it off. I figure he only lost a few feet and a snap swivel, and what could he expect out of old decrepit help anyway?
I went back with him to rest, eat, weigh, and photograph the fish. It weighed 47 pounds, which is his smallest. His previous two were 52 and 51. Doesn't that piss you off too?
I went back in for a while, but the vis had deteriorated quite a bit, and of course I wasn't going to get any help if I shot one, so I was uncomfortable. When I went back to the boat for a break, Jake said his head was really hurting, so we headed in early.
Just as I sat down to write this, Jake called and said that the ENT said that was the biggest hole in an eardrum he had ever seen. He prescribed some antibiotics and told Jake to stay of the water for a while.
Oh well- at least he got the fish.